Digital Isn't Riding A Wave - It's About Sea Change

I get asked to write a lot of digital strategies. My response to the query is always the same:

"Well, if you understand that digital is now everything, then I'm fine to write a digital strategy"

They always look at me funny and agree regardless and only afterwards really understand what i meant. As we go through the process, they consistently say things like:

" this isn't about digital, it's about a way of thinking across our entire business"
"your talking about completely redoing our marketing plans"
"we now have to stop looking at our marketing from a media channel perspective and start looking at it from a customer/solution perspective"
"you aren't looking at how to take our mass media brand online, your actually evolving it so it can encompass an overall brand experience!" (well ok they never say that exactly but they say they now "get" what i was talking about regarding expanding brand)

This isn't about digital. It isn't about looking at how big Agencies look at the latest wave because it's our most current obsession as this blog post talks about near the end.

It's about reinventing our businesses and our brands to respond to the deep cultural shifts that have been changing the way brands and customers interact since the advent of the commercial web.

The Agencies and startup newcos that get it ISN'T A WAVE BUT A SEA CHANGE are the ones who are going to be able to become cornerstones partners to the Brands they work with verses interchangable creative executors who judge the value of what they do by a series of shiny awards.